Disability benefits due to mental disorders up 38 percent in Brazil

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Data from the Social Security Ministry shows that the number of sick pay and retirement benefits due to mental and behavioral disorders in Brazil grew by 38 percent last year, to a total of 288,865. The volume is greater than in 2021, at the height of the Covid pandemic, when just over 200,000 benefits of this type were granted.

A survey of over 8,900 workers at different hierarchical levels carried out in 2023 by Pipo Saúde, a startup that helps companies find the best health plans and services, provides possible explanations for this increase.

According to the survey, whose preliminary data were disclosed to the newspaper Valor Econômico, 48 percent of workers are at “mental health risk,” which is how the startup classifies the possibility of workers having generalized anxiety disorder or depression. Also, 44 percent suffer from insomnia.

The Chief Medical Officer of Pipo Saúde, Thiago Liguori, told Valor Econômico that one of the factors for the increase in social security benefits linked to mental illnesses may be the reduction of stigma surrounding them during the pandemic. As a result, more workers may feel comfortable communicating the problem to companies and seeking their rights.

Another factor is that the startup, which serves companies in sectors such as technology, retail, and consumer goods, has noticed increasing stress levels and psychological insecurity linked to factors such as more frequent layoffs in the technology sector and greater pressure for productivity.

And the number of sick pay and retirements may increase further in 2024 due to regulatory updates. In December, the Health Ministry included 165 pathologies on the list of diseases that can cause damage to a worker’s physical or mental integrity. Burnout, a work-related disorder in which professionals feel physically and emotionally debilitated after being subjected to exhausting conditions, frequent overwork or unattainable goals, and excessive use of alcohol, drugs and coffee, in addition to some types of cancer, are among the new diseases included in the list.